Thursday, March 7, 2013

Sh*t Choristers Say: An Interview with the Vancouver Cantata Singers

A calmness falls over the Vancouver Cantata Singers as they prepare to
sing their first note. A unison breath is taken, the word “Silence,” emerges, sung
with a breathy intenseness.

*an iPhone horn ring tone goes off*

The Vancouver Cantata Singers erupt into laughter as the conductor
hops off her stool, apologizes, and silences her iPhone. They
laugh but refocus as soon as their conductor returns to signal
the downbeat.

The fluctuation between concentration and humor is a natural
cycle within the Vancouver Cantata Singers rehearsal. There is a comedic ease and energy
amongst the singers and this is reflected in their sound. It was evident as
they rehearsed Kristopher Fulton’s 2007 composition for the group,
“Promethesus,” where musical lines build rhythmic momentum to a frenetic climax.
After finishing a performance of the Brahm’s Requiem the past weekend, I
joined them for their Wednesday night rehearsal where they sight-read music for
their upcoming concert.
On the surface, the Vancouver Cantata Singers appear like any other semi-professional
mixed choir. However, they have another social media claim to fame, their viral
“Sh*t Choristers Say” video released in January 2012. To this date, the video
has almost 250,000 views on YouTube. Following rehearsal, I spoke with Missy
Clarkson, Vancouver Cantata Singers Soprano and Board Vice-President, along with
Kristopher Fulton, Vancouver Cantata Singers tenor and local Vancouver composer, to get
their thoughts on the video.

It all began on a Monday night. Missy reminisces about the start of the project with
energetic fervor, as she was discussing the popularity of the memes and “Sh*t
______ Say” videos while at a local Ethiopian restaurant.
She realized that there needed to be one done for choristers. “We have to do
it. We have to do it now,” she realized in order to capitalize on the social
media popularity. Missy began brainstorming quotes and she immediately
began video recording quotes at home. However, Missy and Kristopher emphasized that the
video was a Vancouver “Cantata Singers project” because choristers stayed after Wednesday
night rehearsal and provided “inside jokes that could be applicable to other
choristers,” Missy reveals. While working in her day job as a hairdresser and
editing the video clips between clients, Missy was able to release the video on
Thursday afternoon, which meant the 4 minute video was produced in only 2.5
days.

“I honestly didn’t think it would go that viral,” Missy states.
Their video reached 10,000 views the morning following its release. While there
were polarizing comments, they both noted their own positive responses to the
video. Kristopher concluded that the video “obviously resonated with people”
and, for him, it was the discourse the video generated around choral music.
People began commenting on the musical interpretations of other Vancouver Cantata Singers
videos and they began to list their own favorite “Ave Maria” arrangements. For
Missy, it was when she heard that one conductor made all of his new choristers
watch the video as an introduction to the world of choral music: “we can
be this global choir community with global inside jokes.”

While the video has resulted in the Vancouver Cantata Singers becoming
hyperaware of everything they say during choir rehearsal, Kristopher realizes
that the ability to manage passive-aggressive phrases in rehearsal with humor
can remove a lot of the animosity. The video, ultimately, has established an
online rapport between the choir and the world, “We are that video. We all like
joking around, but we also like being really serious and really pulling off
serious concerts. Those don’t need to be mutually exclusive either,” Kristopher
states with matter-of-fact honesty.

Choral singing with the Vancouver Cantata Singers has both filled a
niche in the world of Missy and Kristopher. Missy confesses that “there’s
nothing that speaks to [her] in the same way.” Kristopher pauses for a moment
and to compose his thoughts: “As you explore the rep and you realize you are
making a sound with a group of people who are your friends and later family…
you’re a group of people united with a common goal…to make really good music, I
think, and hopefully communicate something special to the audience if they’re in
the room, if it’s a rehearsal, there’s usually not an audience, so it’s really
just for each other.”

The familial comfort in the Vancouver Cantata Singers provided a
support network to produce a viral video that was able to connect with so
many people. It humorously highlighted a part of the choral realm and, as a
result, shows that we are able to laugh at the ridiculous things we say while
doing the things we love.

Listen to the full interview below to learn more about
Vancouver Cantata Singers choristers, Missy Clarkson and Kristopher Fulton, surprising responses
they received to the video, their favorite “Ave Maria,” and meeting Eric
Whitacre. As well, hear an aural glimpse of the Vancouver Cantata Singers rehearsal at
the end of the interview.

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About Me

I'm a choir girl who is passionate about all things choir, music, and performance-related. I detail my musical musings and experiences here on this blog. In addition to being a Speech-Language Pathologist interested in the area of Voice Therapy, I'm an avid chorister in Edmonton singing with Pro Coro Canada and the Edmonton Opera Chorus.